Does earthquake split when hitting a flying Pokemon?

Question

If you were to use earthquake say, on groudon, and had a crobat out in a double's battle, would earthquake split the damage three ways (33.3-%) for each Pokemon, or since it can't hit crobat, does it just split twice (50%) for the two Pokemon in front of you?

Answer 1

Earthquake, along and other multi-target moves, has its power (not damage) multiplied by 0.75 if it hits more than one Pokémon. In this scenario, it would have 75 (100 times 0.75) power on the other two because it would miss our Crobat. The move’s power will not decrease any more after that, even if it hits more than two Pokémon.

Comments

How are you so sure about this? Bulbapedia says all moves that target more than one Pokemon have their power multiplied by 3/4, regardless of how many Pokemon it hits. https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Double_Battle

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Huh I always thought it decreased even more if it hit more than two

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wow. I didn't know some moves had their power lowered in doubles if it hit multiple targets.

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Yeah I researched a bit and it looks like that is right suwmun

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Also I think earthquake's power would still decrease if it HITS only one Pokemon, as long as it TARGETS more than one.

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So in a double battle multi range attacks will always be lowered? Still when just one foe remaining?

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I think Bulbapedia says yes.

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If there's only one opponent remaining in a double battle, moves such as Rock Slide and Dazzling Gleam will only have one Pokemon in the line of fire, so those moves will *not* get the spread penalty in that case. Moves that target your teammate as well, like Earthquake or Surf, will still get penalized for targeting one teammate and one opponent, unless you're down to 1v1 on both sides.

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If there are 2 opponents and one uses protect, will rock slide get the penalty when it hits the other?